


Sordid

by senisensei



Series: 94th Avenue [1]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Demons, Dark Comedy, Demon Deals, Eventual Romance, M/M, Modern Royalty, Mutual Pining, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Romance, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-10-04 20:21:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17311244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/senisensei/pseuds/senisensei
Summary: Not all nightmares happen with closed eyes, not for Baekhyun, no.





	1. Their Demise

**Author's Note:**

> Someone said 180430 Sehun looked like a butler, and suddenly 161022 Baekhyun came up in my mind, thus this au was born. Loosely based off Black Butler (anime). update: I finally tried to proofread :)

‘Life as we know it’ was something people often said but were clueless about.

We like to delve into things far often we know nothing about, but pretentiously believe in. Just like any modern-day man in his mid-twenties, Baekhyun’s life bustled. His phone buzzed with every notification he got, his joints ached after long nights at work. From an influential family, he’d climbed his way up in the press industry with his name alongside his efforts. Other twenty-six year olds didn’t prefer the 10-hour work schedule, but Baekhyun even liked going for overtimes and weeks with no days off. A workaholic you could say, but not really. He was just interested in knowing how long he could function till he reached a level of exhaustion that would take days to recover from.

Each day was not another episode of ‘life as we know it’ because what _exactly_ do we know about this life? What does Baekhyun know about his life? Nothing was known unless it had already happened, which is why he’s learned how to savour every moment he judged meaningful or something he would be remorseful about after it passes.

Tuesdays were days for coffee dates and interviews with other people in media. He’s encountered a handful of reporters and journalists, show business paparazzi, researchers here and there but he hated talking to people of the government the most.

One thing why he was enthusiastic about his job in his uncle’s company was because _The Daily Cited_ did not work for the government: they didn’t censor news, didn’t print lies on the morning paper, and definitely didn’t plant toxic seeds in the minds of the general public. A feature story in their prints would never be about a celebrity’s recently being pregnant but would certainly be about the last crime committed by a small town governor. These are what he believes the people should know, this is what actually tells you what kind of society you live in.

This current society, in his eyes, was just full of shit.

Spinning the metallic straw in his cup to the beat of the cafe music, he taps his fingers on his thigh as his eyes drift from scene to scene around him. He was always labelled observant and somewhat quite enigmatic despite his occasional playfulness. If there was no need to show a reaction, then that’s it. There is no need by any means necessary.

‘What I was saying, Baekhyun,’ Kyungsoo sips on his macchiato and wipes the foam from his lips. ‘I want to start my own company and I need people like you in it.’

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow and smirks, effectively causing a small smile to break through Kyungsoo’s earlier more stoic front. ‘You called me over for coffee to ask me to build a company with you?’ He asks.

‘Yes, I did. In fact with the way you worded it, it sounds better. I asked for help, but you on the other hand, clearly thought of providing more than just a lending hand.’ Kyungsoo says with a sparkle in his eyes.

Responding with a chuckle and a slight shake of his head, Baekhyun just sits back and stares at the spread laid out on the table. ‘The last time you ever asked for help was...ages ago.’ He ends and looks up, Kyungsoo sighing inwardly across the marble table.

‘We both know we’re not the types to ask for help in what we do best.’ The latter breathes out, ‘I knew you would at least consider my offer, besides, you’ve got nothing better to do now that you’re forced to take a break.’

That was it, the pull he was waiting for. Those words were the ones his ears were somehow anticipating to hear so much that the reverb of Kyungsoo’s deep voice pounded in his head. Indeed, he was forced to take a break. Forced by his uncle by all means: called out in meetings, prevented from attending meetings, blacklisted in the company contacts— all just so he could take a break. He’s worked ten months non-stop, and not _once_ did he look for a crack of sunlight after waking up at 5 am to start his day nor looked forward to watching sunsets when he was busy reviewing the next release for tomorrow.

Cities weren’t the only things in this world that never slept, crime was too.

He takes his final sip from his cup and placed both his hands on his lap, palms flat on his thighs as he blinks at Kyungsoo once. ‘What’s in it for me?’ He asks with an intimidating gaze, although not intending it.

‘Whatever pleases you,’ Kyungsoo easily replies with a shrug. ‘I don’t mind you taking over as long as the company name’s on me.’ He laughs his joke off before shrugging again.

‘I’ll see what I can do about it. I’ll give you a call.’ Baekhyun sits up and looks at his watch, the seconds running comfortably on his wrist. ‘No promises. Liabilities on you.’

‘Will there even be liabilities?’ was the last thing he hears as he exits the cafe, a fond smile playing on his lips.

 

Chris Brown’s _Fine China_ made his fingers dance on the steering wheel as he stared at the long line of cars in front of his own, whistling to the song as he checks the time again.

Baekhyun scrunches his nose as the light turns green, stepping on gas he moved forward, always so aware of the sense of time. He didn’t like missing beats and abhorred people who relied on the fates to determine what happens in the next second of their lives. Life is but a path full of efforts, so you map your own world as no one else will do it for you.

It was three minutes to 4 PM and his mother had just phoned him about his brother’s project launch later in the evening. Their alma mater had an open house not recently too, so alumni and current students will probably flock the area.

He did not mind big crowds, but recently social media had such a boom that a small accidental tag exposes you to the world. He originally did not intend to make his social profile open to the public, but after appearing in some college lectures, attending his masters classes, and meeting more people for connections, Baekhyun had become a little _internet famous_ you could say.

Since he was a university alumnus, his face is on one of the giant display boards in the graduates hall. Some people were bound to know him for what he does, instead of knowing him from photos on the internet. It was easy to avoid people who didn’t pose as worth his time but if his family was around, he’d have no choice but to entertain everyone, every time.

The drive to his penthouse took an hour and a half due to an accident in the road. He couldn’t be happier than to finally get out of the sedan as he rushed to the elevators, his complex on the top floor. Frequently, he’d encounter girls maybe around the sophomore college age, in the elevators. They would shoot him glances and shy smiles, which he seldom returns but acknowledges with a curt nod most of the time. He was not interested in investments on things that were temporary and did not benefit him, it would be a waste of time and essence, he can just dedicate himself to something else.

Baekhyun did not worship money, but maybe time, yes. Time is gold, as the saying goes, but time is something that you can never take for granted. No one was able to control it, make it, turn it back. It just exists as it is and yet has the power to rule all races. If he would worship one thing, it would be time.

Clearing his throat, he looks up to see that he was on the twenty-seventh floor when the lift doors open and a young man in what looked like church attire stepped inside. All dolled up with a small bow tie clad on his neck, Baekhyun gives a small boyish smile to which the latter returns.

Never the religious type, his memory was a little too fuzzy for him to recall if his family ever went to church or lectures. He remembers funerals and a few meetings where families gather to talk issues but nothing else. In his twenty-six years of life, he’s only ever gone to the extent of having faith when he was still in school, but he never specifically had a belief. Maybe that’s also one of the reasons why he was so candid when it came to work and success, he just did what he saw was needed to be done and believed solely on his own progress to proceed further in life.

The young man gets off a few floors below his penthouse and was welcomed by a taller more mature man in a tuxedo. That’s the thing about this residential building, mostly families live in the complex and even in the neighboring structures around. He had considered living in a villa for a greener space, but work made him choose a place nearer the company headquarters. He’s encountered about more than ten families in this building alone already, so he is guessing that’s why there are always older men in tuxedos and vests walking around here and there which is no new thing since his family has its own household staff too.

Baekhyun lived alone and had the companionship of his flowers, a cylindrical obsidian vase of serene blue Hydrangeas that he replaces every week. He had gotten the vase as his first purchase from an auction party three years ago. The same time he had gotten a sure position in his uncle’s company.

'Only you and me tonight,' Baekhyun says as he checks the flowers, eyeing any wilted petals before checking his wristwatch again. Leaving the minimalist desk he quickly cleans up and gets changed for the upcoming afternoon commitment with his family.

 

He doesn't recall just how many times he's said 'Nice to meet you' in a span of five hours. 

Baekhyun cringes at himself in the mirror and wipes the annoying stain of velvety red on his cheek. He hated having his aunt over as much as he loved her company when she goes to the same events as his family. The only person who ever loved him the right way he wished to be, the right type and amount of admiration, the maternal instinct apt to his needs were only ever given correctly by his aunt and quite inappropriately by his own mother who only ever saw his older brother. 

Washing his hands and rounding himself up, he carefully checks himself all over again, from his shoes to his bow tie. The _Moncler_ suit fit perfectly, kudos to Jongdae who never got his measurements wrong. Out of his reverie, he finally exits the comfort room and proceeds to the main hall where the launch was being presented. 

As per usual, he watches. He guessed, along the years, that one of his main charms with people swam in the depths of his eyes and the twinkle of his irises. Baekhyun watched, gazed, looked, and even gawked at things with such a light in his eyes that anyone would say he's always thinking of something nice or the complete opposite. He couldn't blame them, he just looked that way and he just liked to observe from afar. 

Walking around with sweet champagne in his hands, he greets a few men of mention that he passes by but never engages in conversation. He knew the people in this event didn't see him for who he truly is but only as the overshadowed Byun heir, a son of the widowed Byun heiress. He'd be damned if he assumed half of the people in fancy attire even knew the first syllable of his name.

'Over here!' He suddenly hears and doesn't bother to approach with haste after seeing who it was trying to beckon him over. 

'This is my brother, Baekhyun.' His brother chimes as he smiled at the group of women he's now inevitably supposed to entertain for the next fifteen minutes telling from the way his brother had calmly placed his arm on Baekhyun's shoulders.

Begrudging was a pathetic excuse for one of the things Baekhyun felt as he dove deep into the pool of mixed emotions that came after joining his brother go around the reception area. After-parties seemed like such a pain in the ass but they were even more problematic when you're purposefully paraded around like a bag accessory. Being introduced as 'my brother Baekhyun' did him no justice if they were trying to find him a woman. 'A successful editor' would have been better if not nice.

The night drawled on much more longer than it ever had in his life and he knew this was the reason why he fell in love with his work. It was never pointless to spend hours trying to make things right. Sadly, he's a part of the minority that understood that in the midst of people enjoying themselves gossiping and sipping expensive liquor.

So very surely, Baekhyun made a compromise with his family: he'd be heading home by eleven sharp and will just have lunch with them tomorrow, if not then dinner or even just drop by their family home quickly to give his mother his never-new emotionless peck. To his slight surprise, his brother agreed.

'That's a change I did not expect to see,' He smiled sincerely for the first time tonight. His brother answered with a simple grin back. 

That was the last coherent thing he was able to process before glass breaks, voices shriek, and gunshots echo.

He goes in a state of quick panic, obviously wanting to survive as he moved with the crowd, rather, scattered with groups of people who also ran for their lives. Two of the emergency exits were blocked by armed men and the main entrance was also being obstructed by more guns and violent yells. 

'Stay out!' He hears them say loudly before shooting the security guards outside the entrance with no thread of doubt in mind. Baekhyun had an odd feeling he wouldn't survive tonight. The more he tried to hide behind tables and hush his breaths, the more he thought that he should've just really rejected this invite and stayed at home in the comfort of his couch and his laptop.

Looking around him he sees a few guests quivering in fear, covering their ears, crying. He just does his best to shut himself up and wish this hostage would finish soon, in anyway it was willed to. He drowns the noises out and doesn't even worry about his family but then yes, his family included his aunt. His aunt who he loved so much like a mother. 

It was both wrong and right for him to absorb this thought because the next second he knew he was keen on finding the only family he considered he ever had. The influx of adrenaline in his veins lied to him about his safety as he just searched, frantic and admittedly afraid, head whipping around to see if she was still around or if she was hurt. 

Baekhyun suddenly felt like a child lost in a park. This lasted for three minutes before he felt something, a sharp pain in his system. He recalls hurt, he relishes in the agony, he feels—death. 

 

'Good morning.' 

The blinds seem to draw themselves up and the brewer blinks as obnoxiously as the LED alarm clock on his bedside table. It was a Tuesday and the nothingness of the day is what pulls Baekhyun back to sleep as he turns away from the sunlight.

'Good morning, time to get up.' 

He groans and feels the blankets get pulled down slightly before he slowly sits up and yawns, eyes looking so tired as he blinked his dreams away. Clad in a pair of red plaid pyjamas, Baekhyun brushes the hair off his forehead and leans on the headboard comfortably, frowning at the body blocking the sun from reaching his countenance or kissing his skin. He looks up and blinks slowly again before sighing.

'Sehun, it's late.' He quips as he looks at the time, 11:02 AM.

With a soft smile and the most frolicsome glint in his eyes, Sehun hums then greets.

'Good morning, _master_.' 

 


	2. Their Normalcy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Technically, once you’ve lost something, you never get it back. Baekhyun knew otherwise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: Sehun. More characters are being introduced, I hope you're ready for flexible relationships because I feel like it'll be a thing in this story (flexible: as in relationships bend a lot, metaphorically).

The blue Hydrangeas were freshly replaced just this morning, the same time Baekhyun got out of his room to go down and have breakfast in the dining hall.

When the news first broke out, it was ridiculous, blandly ridiculous. Even comical enough to make him laugh and want to spit on the people he used to consider colleagues in the industry. He became an even louder talk of the town, the title 'youngest Byun heir' circulating the media as word got around. It's only been a few months ever since and he still feels the chills vibrating in the core of his bones, crawling out to reach the surface of his skin.

His family is dead and supposedly, so is he.  _Was._

It took a little hostage party to wipe out lots of noblemen, including his own family, which led to his current situation. Baekhyun was now, inexorably, the head of his family household including the family businesses, one of which the world knew of and the other, he was sure, not so much. The same hostage party that was supposed to ruin his family's reputation as well as some other few influential ones his had ties to, the same event that 'broke' the hearts of many when in truth he knew the world around him rejoiced. 

His father's companies were finally bought by the others. That didn't leave him with zero everything, in fact it gave him a new chance to incorporate his world with the one he hated so much. He could finally start doing something even better for fulfillment and what better way to start that by being alive?

Baekhyun didn't know how it happened; he was never religious, never a fan of the make-believe, never even touched the concept of magic yet here he was now, exposed in a whole new terrain of things he could not explain so clearly to others, even more so to himself. When the bullets started digging through the meat of his chest, he didn't know who he called out for but he called out for something, for  _someone_. 

He didn't know if he'd get an answer but he liked to believe he hoped he would and that he initially called out simply to himself, deep in his soul. Physical pain drove his nerves wild, he felt like he was on fire but the flames were scalding and cold at the same time. It was a scary frenzy, when he felt death trying to pull him in this whirlpool of nothing, making him an ex of the world he may not have enjoyed living in all the time but still had enough drive to live for. 

It was getting dark but at some point it became even darker and darker. 

That's when he initially heard a voice. _His_  voice.

'What is it in which you have faith in?' 

Baekhyun suddenly opened his eyes, he saw nothing but also something he just couldn't completely make out. He tries to answer even if it felt difficult to move, breathing out most of his words shakily. 'Nothing,' he responds, confused.

'Not even yourself?' 

Suddenly he's forced to think and evaluate, this voice was right. He did believe in himself  just enough to have faith in his possessed humanity but it was a different faith from what people usually dedicated to God. It was not otherworldly but genuine, the strive to become a better man with the time he was given in his life. That’s when Baekhyun realized he did believe in something else and that was time.

  
Time so generously given yet of a certain scarcity to insatiable beings like us humans. Time that could not be seen nor touched yet was ardently and so sincerely felt. Time that had the power to cause forgetting and to eradicate pain just as how it can worsen it. Baekhyun then answers, clearer this time.

  
‘Time. I believe in time.’ He says and feels a little lighter on the shoulders, as if the invisible hands holding him down put less pressure on their palms and started lifting him up instead.

  
‘But you know _faith_ is different from simple belief.’

  
‘Then time is what I believe in to have faith in the unknown,’ Baekhyun counters and opens his eyes, hyper-aware of the texture of silk caressing skin as if trying to convince him to sleep.

  
‘Associating with me needs faith but it means you’ll never acquire the fulfillment most humans fancy because I can give you a hell more than that.’

  
The feeling in his gut told him that he doesn’t understand but he wants to. The stir in his chest, the way the tiny hairs on his nape stand alongside the small grunt he emits as he struggles to breathe yet again. The voice started chuckling at him, seeing him in such a state. Baekhyun doesn’t understand any of this but his mouth opens before his mind could stop his heart from controlling the variants of his soul.

  
‘Yes.’ He says and is suddenly drowned back in a stupor of cloudy thoughts.

  
Everything was so vague in this space he was put in, he could not understand. How can something so unclear make him want, igniting a flame in his chest he didn’t know he was capable of producing.

  
‘What is it that you want?’ He is asked by the voice and he frowns, thinking hard. When will these questions stop?

  
‘I want,’ the pause Baekhyun makes is foretold but less dramatic than how it was supposed to sound. His memories flash before him: his childhood, his brother, his father’s passing, his mother trying to re-marry, his first day at work, his first promotion and so on. So much in just twenty six years and still so unsatisfied, his canvas still so blank.

  
‘ _Revenge_?’ Baekhyun hears himself ask in a whisper but the voice hums in response and he swore to the crevices of his soul that he felt a smirk brush against his shoulder for a quick moment.

  
‘Consider it done.’ He didn’t even agree but the voice kept talking and his vision started to blur even more in this darkness that enveloped him. Not one to believe in life after death, Baekhyun didn't know whether this was what purgatory, heaven, or even hell he was experiencing. It all happened in such frantic haste that he felt like he's forgotten how to breathe, struggling with his own systems.

Just as he closed his eyes to try and calm himself down, he finds himself being rushed to the nearest hospital while laying down on an emergency bed, a pair of pallid, cold hands atop his left forearm gently as the ambulance siren forced people to move and make way on the road. He blinks a few times, the gasp stuck in his throat as he assessed his situation the best way he could, the sudden urge to sit up proving him that all the pain that struck him probably just a few minutes ago was now gone and dead on his nerves. When he made a small noise, now able to understand the gist of events, one of the emergency team rescuers aided him in lying back down. 

'Close your eyes, young master.' 

Baekhyun's face that was just coming back to life begins to lose colour yet again as he turns his gaze to his side, staring wide-eyed at the owner of the pallid hands and the baritone voice that gloriously hummed in his ears. And before he could say anything, it was as if time adequately froze, the ambulance siren a very faint whisper outside of this little bubble he was in, while the fully suited gentleman smiled at him fondly with mesmerizing crescent eyes, wisps of his ravenous hair tickling the top of his eyelids as one of his palms carefully obstruct the view of Baekhyun's right eye. 

'You wouldn't want them to see our promise, would you?' 

That was the last thing he heard before wind got knocked out of his lungs.

 

'Young master,' Baekhyun lifts his head up from the morning paper, mouth twisting gracefully and in distaste. 

'I told you not to call me _young_ , Sehun. I'm not young.' He answers and proceeds to eat his breakfast before looking at the said man, sighing loudly. 

'Sehun.' He calls.

'Yes, young master?' Sehun responds quickly and smiles, tilting his head as he stood by the end of the long table with the decanter in his hands. 

Baekhyun sighed for the umpteenth time and massaged his temples, leaning on the comforts of the padded chair, his navy blue bathrobe riding up his thighs. He runs his hand through his hair, red and menacing, before the pads of his fingers come in contact with the velvety material of the strings of his eye-patch, making him look at Sehun, his 'butler', also for the umpteenth time this morning. 

'Why is my master so sullen today?' Sehun approached him and stood by his side this time, much closer than how normal butlers were supposed to do. 

'Two years into this contract and I would have never imagined...' His voice trails off to Sehun's delight, his presence still having its occasional wonder effect on Baekhyun. 

'It's just so surreal, reading the paper.' Baekhyun says, recalling the first day he woke up to the exact same world with only him as the new rendition. 'I haven't been to the company in two years, people are convinced I've gone missing after surviving that...event.'

He doesn't continue after that, the bitter taste of blood finding its way back on the buds of his tongue every time he remembers that night. The same night that killed him was also the same night that gave him new life, the same night that killed his aunt yet also allowed him to wipe out his family's enemies, the very same blood moon that gave him his pledged lifetime partner, owner _and_ servant: Sehun.

A demon. 

Baekhyun knew faith could be dark but he didn't know to  _this_ extent, a depth too deep for ample and unable humans to dive into. Yet with the knowledge that in such a modern world, demons—as dashing as Sehun—would walk this very earth, he didn't do something so simple as to dive into that depth but he delved deeper, he went _under_ that darkness, sinking in mortal obsidian and melted graphite. He entered something vicious and impossible to the normalcy of humans all through a deal with a demon, a two-way ownership that was too wrong to be called a covenant. 

It was glorious just as how it was sinful; the past two years of him traveling masked by shadows as he took down person after person who posed as previous and current threats to his family. People he searched for, trying to make ends meet just to find who killed his aunt. 

He is reminded of her death every day, when he looks in the mirror.

Unsure but determined, the day he decided to look for his family's murderers and whoever was the mastermind behind it, he decided his life needed a little more color. He'd gone and dyed his hair a cardinal red, reminding him of the colour his aunt loved the most and of the blood that stained his memory that night. He never changed hair colours since and never revealed himself to the public as easily as he used to before. 

'A new life, master.' Baekhyun recalls Sehun say against his ear as he stood by the window of his room, now the only inhabitant of their family house. He stood there long and still every time the sun kissed the sea in the west, Sehun tending to his injuries from the massacre, removing bandage after bandage with careful and lithe fingers covered in pristine white gloves. Eyes always as red as his hair after crying himself to sleep, trying to overcome the nightmares that haunt him even in plain daylight.

Two years of listening to Sehun's convincing words and actually knowing that that very being was his primordial reminder that he had to find the murderer of his family and his career. Why else would've he agreed to that contract with Sehun anyway, right? He did it for revenge. 

And maybe, in the fissures of his head, hidden is the desire of something more. Something still undiscovered. 

Baekhyun knew he was killing people but he was more than convinced that he did it for the right reasons and for the good of those who mattered and deserved to live in the harmony they wish to exist in. He was also aware that Sehun's ways of extermination or 'cleaning up' as he dubs it, isn't the most modern of ways used today. He just knew that Sehun's been around for a long time and stuck to doing what he does best other than being his guard dog— being one hell of a butler. 

That trails him back to the only remaining normality in his life: living. He didn't live any lesser than how he used to with a demon following him around as a butler, like an upgraded PA. His morning coffee always made its way to his room, the entire manor never had a moment where it would have a speck of dust lingering around, and his emails were never left unread. Sehun did it all because he simply knew it all. He indeed never failed to make Baekhyun wonder so much about him, awestruck, observing him do his work as meticulously and as perfectly, just the way Baekhyun wanted it. That was why Baekhyun often forgot that his life wasn't normal, as if he didn't come back to life because a demon saved him or that he was murdering targets of interest every night he found convenient. 

A contract that changed his life but not forever. 

Everything comes with a price for nothing is free, not when time exists. Because for exchange of the new normalcy Baekhyun's not accustomed to, he's to give Sehun something he didn't even know how to properly price which was—his soul.

_All of him._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me if I should update the tags re:character death! Since people who'll be dying aren't major characters anyway :) Thank you for reading this. (You can share your thoughts with me on twitter/curiouscat: @49cmsehun)

**Author's Note:**

> I will try to make it dark, I’m still experimenting so please bear with me. Let the story grow with its themes, thank you. (You can share your thoughts with me on twitter/curiouscat: @49cmsehun)


End file.
